Pelicans head coach Willie Green provided a health update on Zion Williamson today, telling reporters that doctors are encouraged by the latest scans on the forward’s foot (Twitter link via Andrew Lopez of ESPN).
According to Green, Williamson is participating in 5-on-0 workouts and has shown the ability to cut, but hasn’t yet been cleared for 5-on-5 work. The plan is for the former No. 1 overall pick to undergo more scans in about two or three weeks in the hopes of clearing him to participate fully in practice and determine a timeline for his return (Twitter link via William Guillory of The Athletic).
When Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin first revealed on Media Day last month that Williamson had undergone surgery on his foot in the offseason, he conveyed optimism that the 21-year-old would be ready to go by the regular season. However, prior to opening night, Griffin walked those comments back, suggesting that he hadn’t meant the start of the regular season.
Even if Williamson is cleared to return to action in three weeks, which is an optimistic timeline, he’d miss about 12 more games for a Pelicans team that has started the season with a 1-6 record. New Orleans has playoff aspirations this season, but the club hasn’t looked good on either end of the court with the former No. 1 overall pick out of the lineup and risks digging a deeper hole for itself in the coming weeks.
Green also said today that Brandon Ingram, who is dealing with a right hip contusion, is still sore and is considered day-to-day (Twitter link via Guillory).
Zion 2022
Zion is quickly becoming one of those “what if” type of players.
Trade Ingram to Wolves for future picks, Beasley and Beverley
Big men and foot injuries aren’t a good mix.
Sounds like Greg Oden or Embiid, (Oden had Knee issues), hope he can turn around this and play at least 60+ games a season like Joel.
Yao Ming only lasted for 7+ seasons because of foot (and ankle) injuries.
Lots of big men have had multiple foot/leg/knee injuries early in their careers, only to put it behind them as their bodies matured.
The worrisome thing with Zion is the number of injuries that just seem to appear (without any trauma) and the number of games he misses in each case. E.g., if the article is estimating correctly, he’ll end up missing enough of the season that the Pels’ season is effectively over, all due to an injury that nobody can say when it occurred and apparently the team wasn’t even aware of for most of the offseason.
It’s a combination of the number of injuries, his frame, and his reliance on elite athleticism. If he had a better all around game it would be one thing, but when the athleticism goes so does Zion to an extent.
In fairness, he’s 21 – so he has time to develop an all-around game before his athleticism starts to wane in … 8-9 years.
Asterisk there is IF he stays healthy enough to actually play, which no all-around game is equipped to counteract.
2-3 weeks to be cleared to practice makes me tend to agree with DXC. If he won’t be practicing until almost December he probably won’t be on the floor until probably mid-Dec, best case? Then he’ll have to knock off the rust/20lbs of trans fat after that.
Which means NOP, assuming they stay more or less on their 1-6 pace, will be competing for an outside chance at the play-in, if that.
What crash diet is he going to go on to help him drop the 25-40 lbs he needs to get into playing shape in 2-3 weeks?
Oliver Miller 2.0
And he thinks GM Griffen has not been cooperative.